Making the health and recreation connection was one of the five principle topics at the recent Recreation and Parks 
Leadership Summit. Attendees noted the need to promote good examples of successful programs. One of Pennsylvania’s Heritage Areas, the Schuylkill River National and State Heritage Area, has partnered with other local organizations to develop two unique programs that connect health and nature-based recreation: The Bike Pottstown Bike Share program and the Take Fun Steps to Healthier Living initiative.
The Bike Pottstown program is a free bike-share initiative established two years ago by a group known as Preservation Pottstown. With funding from the non-profit Pottstown Health and Wellness Foundation, Preservation Pottstown purchased 30 yellow cruisers that can be borrowed at no cost by anyone aged 16 and over. No money is needed to ride a bike; participants simply provide a driver’s license. A downtown bike shop, Tri-County Bicycles, hosts this successful program. Now, the Schuylkill River Heritage Area is positioning itself to assume program responsibility and expand it to other communities in the region. In June, the Heritage Area headquarters became the second location to host the bikes. Since the office is located just off the Schuylkill River Trail, people borrow the bikes regularly to ride the trail. People who haven’t cycled in years or no longer own a bike can now easily peddle along the trail. To learn more, visit: http://www.bikepottstown.com/.
Take Fun Steps to Healthier Living was established through a partnership between the Schuylkill River Heritage Area and the Pottstown Health and Wellness Foundation. The foundation’s goals 
mesh well with the Heritage Area’s objectives for recreation and trails: encouraging fitness by improving the recreational infrastructure and providing information and support on diet and exercise. In 2008, the foundation placed signs along the Schuylkill River Trail in the Pottstown area and a trail section in Berks County. The signs provide information on calories burned by walking, jogging or cycling to various parts of the trail. These signs, along with an accompanying brochure available at the Pottstown trailhead, are designed to be motivational, encouraging people to use the trail for exercise.
For more information, contact Laura Catalona at lcatalano@schuylkillriver.org.
